ALGARVE SPORT: The Sporting Diary 2009

The coming 12 months promise to be packed with sporting action, national and international events taking place from one end of the Algarve to the other throughout the year- here is a brief overview. For more detailed information please consult your Resident closer to the time a particular competition or tournament is scheduled to take place.

January

The New Year celebrations are immediately followed by athletics’ traditional Grande Prémio dos Reis Faro road race, usually featuring a strong international field boosted by the guest appearance of Eastern European runners already here attending training camps.

The same can be said for leading continental football clubs taking advantage of the mild Algarve climate during the winter break - fans have the opportunity to attend friendly matches and informal mini-tournaments organised at this time.

The tennis season gets under way at Quinta da Balaia with a series of men’s Futures contested by young local and foreign players hoping to improve their ATP rankings. Toyota will be testing their new F1 F109 car at the Algarve Motor Park from January 20, the woods are rolling on the region’s lawn bowling greens and the B.Side Algarve surfing circuit hits the waves in Faro.

February

The 2009 European cycling season kicks off on February 18 with the 35th Tour of the Algarve, which crosses the finishing line in Portimão four days later. Earlier, on February 1, Albufeira holds its famous Almond Blossom half-marathon, which has regained its official IAAF status, while lady tennis players spring into action at successive ITF satellite tournaments in Vale de Lobo, Albufeira and Portimão.

The Stadium of the Algarve hosts a friendly football international between Portugal and Finland on February 11, the same day Wales meet Poland for a similar warm-up match at a location yet to be announced. At Alvor’s aerodrome, national and international skydiving competitions, set to continue into March and April, provide an adrenalin rush for participants and spectators alike.

March

With the advent of spring, local first division football sides Olhão and Portimão enter into the crucial phase of their annual Superliga promotion battle while the Carlsberg League Cup final takes place at the Stadium of the Algarve.

That Euro’2004 venue also plays a part in the 15th edition of the Algarve Cup, one of the most important women’s football tournaments of the year, which sees top national sides such as the USA, Germany, China and Sweden playing from Vila Real de Santo António over a 10-day period.

Away from the region’s football pitches, the men return to play in a series of ATP tennis Challenger events in Faro, Lagos and Albufeira as Quarteira stages its popular triathlon at the end of the month.

April

Top international spectacles aplenty mark these four weeks, starting with the rhythmic gymnastics World Cup meeting in Portimão. The same city also hosts a super April 12 double header in the form of the spectacular opening UIM F1 World Powerboat Championship race on the Arade estuary and the penultimate stage of the A1GP season at the nearby Algarve Motor Park.

These happenings are preceded by racing of a different kind with the Stadium of the Algarve-based WRC Rally of Portugal between April 2 and 5. Away from motorised sports, the CSI International Equestrian Tour comes to Vilamoura and some of Europe’s best golfers are in action at the Estoril Open from the second of the month.

May

Estoril is back on the tennis agenda during the first week of this month with the staging of Portugal’s only full-blown ATP/WTA tournament.

Further south, the Formula One Historic Grand Prix visits the new race track near Portimão on May 10 while the competitors taking part in the first-ever Portimão Global Ocean Race set sail for the Algarve from Charleston on the other side of the Atlantic.

June

The Portuguese Ladies Open tees off in the Algarve as the beach volley and football season gets underway on the coast between Lagos and Albufeira.

Show jumping returns to the region with the two closing events of the PET Portuguese Equestrian Tour being held in Portimão and Vilamoura.

The first-named port city will also expect to welcome back the winners of the round-the-world sailing race named after it, a 2010 renewal of which has already been confirmed.

July

Pre-season football provides the principal entertainment at the Stadium of the Algarve in the form of the Algarve Challenge Cup, featuring top British and Portuguese clubs which made its debut in 2008. Equally competitive is the Copa Foot bringing together over 100 of the world’s best junior sides in Vila Real de Santo Antonio.

Summer also sees the start of the Big Game fishing season with international tournaments being held in Vilamoura, Vila Real de Santo António, Albufeira and Portimão right through to October. Still on the water, the PKRA World Kite-surfing Masters return to Alvor, guaranteeing a week’s worth of top-class thrills and spills.

August

There is more football with the prestigious Guadiana Trophy matching Sporting Lisbon and Benfica up with a top Spanish club as well as the Portuguese Super Cup final at the Stadium of the Algarve. International attention will be focused on Portimão during the main holiday month - the city’s harbour launches the concluding regattas of the renown TP52 Audi Med Cup European sailing circuit, cycling’s Tour of Portugal enjoys its August 5 prologue on land before heading north and the nearby Motor Park welcomes the only night race on the Le Mans Series calendar, the ‘1000km do Algarve’, on August 2.

At the same time, Praia da Rocha’s beach football mini-World Cup and European league finals are big crowd pleasers while tennis fans will be flocking to Vale de Lobo for the latest ATP Senior Tour Grand Champions event regularly boasting the ageless talents of such former stars as John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg.

September

Vale de Lobo’s amateur team Cup of Nations brings together some of the world’s best young golfers, while nearby Loulé is the venue for the region’s only trampoline World Cup meeting. Further west, international Amazon show jumping is back on the agenda at Portimão’s Belmonte Riding Centre, as all the indications suggest that a second edition of last year’s successful Dakar Series Pax Rally will again reach its climax on the outskirts of the city.

Staying in the borough, a FIA Grand Turismo World Championship stage is firmly booked in for the new Motor Park on September 13 as are Alvor’s Formula One Windsurfing Championships featuring the sport’s top performers from all over the globe.

In addition, the ‘Portuguese Grand Prix of the Sea’ provides the grand finale to another P1 Powerboat World Championship season off the Praia da Rocha coastline.

October

As the domestic football scene is back in full swing, hopefully featuring one of the region’s teams in the top flight, Vilamoura’s Oceânico Victoria Golf Club hosts the country’s most valuable golf tournament for the third time in succession.

Held between October 15 and 18, the three million euro Portugal Masters is guaranteed to attract the PGA European Tour elite attempting to secure their place at November’s inaugural 10 million dollar Dubai World Championships bonanza open to the season’s top 60 players.

Vilamoura also stages the final round of the Medis Copa Iberica veteran’s tennis circuit while elsewhere in the Algarve GP2 motor racing visits the region’s new track on October 4.

November

Motor sport provides the month’s main attraction, with the domestic season-ending rally Casinos de Algarve boasting a super special stage at Portimão’s Motor Park before the race track stages the final round of the World Supersport Championship featuring its own Parkalgar team for the second time on November 25.

December

A hopefully exciting year draws to a close with most sportsmen and women enjoying a well-deserved rest. If last December is anything to go by, it only remains to mention that international martial arts is likely to stage its last fight night of a busy season under the Dynamite promotions banner in Albufeira, the local gym having produced numerous kick and Thai boxing European and world champions in recent times.